Wednesday, February 5, 2014

Meet Mike Reynoso


First year Cañada College Head Coach Mike Reynoso's basketball and education biography reads:

* age 29, Redwood City native
* Cañada College two-year assistant
* Santa Cruz Warriors game scout
* Woodside High four-year head coach, 2007-2011, beginning age 23

* served on the coaching staff of a team comprised of some of the top-17-and-under high school athletes in the nation that competed in international tournaments. 2007-2009

* Serra High graduate
* San Diego State University graduate, Bachelor's of Science in Kinesiology
* Notre Dame de Namur University, Masters in Education

That's all mightily impressive. But lets delve further into his thinking surrounding coaching, recruiting and other hoops-related elements.

The man with a plan

"I knew I wanted to be a [college] head coach at 30," Reynoso recalled.

This is someone who, when others were off enjoying their newfound college life freedom became the head coach of the freshman basketball team at La Jolla Jolla High as well as a varsity assistant while he was attending San Diego State. In the summers, he scouted and assisted the underclass summer teams for Serra Coach Chuck Rapp. Reynoso also directed and coached at Mike Legarza's basketball camps. the latter a member of the California Community College Coaches Hall of Fame as a result of his uber success at Cañada College.

Reynoso also added, "Rich Kelley (the Stanford great, seventh pick in the 1975 draft and an 11-year NBA veteran) has been a great mentor to me. Since my time at Woodside, he has been there for me to bounce ideas off of him, and has helped guide me in the right direction, and it has really helped my development as a coach and person."

Gaining knowledge never stops

"I'm trying to always learn," he explained. "When the day comes that there's not anything to learn, I'll depart. I'm always talking with my mentors, other coaches, my NBA buddies and attending both coaching and skill development camps. I'm lucky to have met a lot of great and intelligent people in basketball, and I will continue to search out things that I can improve upon." An element Reynoso really enjoys is "bringing in a tactic used in another sport." 

As for coaching

"My philosophy is to build a program that has some of that old school mentality of a tough, physical brand of basketball." 

"Knowing X's and O's is not enough, to be a great coach you have to know how to motivate and instill confidence in your guys. That is what I pride myself on getting the most out of my guys."  

"It's  important to have good assistants to challenge you. They always have something new and I have a great staff and learn from them everyday. They may see something you don't see. Ours is not just a mentor/mentee relationship. I'm trying to teach and learn -- it's not a dictatorship."

Regarding recruiting 

"It's critical to get guys to fit your style and philosophy." To know just that, "learn as you recruit them. Get to know them. Put forward that you care about that person and they'll open up and give you more to read."

Advice to those thinking about the coaching profession

"Learn patience, it's really a key in order to build, which is a process." To that, he added, " always being prepared."

Basketball riffing

"Jumpstopping is one of the lost arts in basketball. That and passing. We do numerous drills daily on these. When the NBA became an entertainment league, full of isos and dunks, kids stopped trying to learn the basics. Fundamental skills went by the wayside if you're an athlete."

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